ACSH In The Media

1. A Herpes vaccine is a lot more tricky than it may seem, given the number of people who have it, and have had it for thousands of years. A film crew for a documentary tentatively titled "Patient Zero" visited the office to interview medicinal chemistry expert Dr. Josh Bloom, due to his series of articles on three competing vaccines jockeying to solve this problem.
1. On Science Codex, a take on how anti-science groups who are all working together, and even funded by the same groups, such as Organic Consumers Association and its vassal sites like Sourcewatch and US Right To Know, mobilize its bloggers for their clients. In this case they allege that Dr. Geoffrey Kabat, an advisor here who is an epidemiologist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, who directs the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and hosts numerous science programs, plus the entire Reuters organization are all part of the same vast corporate pro-science conspiracy.
1. Washington Times used our work debunking claims about phthalates in macaroni and cheese to show how New York Senator Chuck Schumer is going to chase any environmental fad - especially if it makes science and technology look bad. It appeals to his base. The "analysis" was hand-picked by a group co-founded by a guy who thinks food is "spiritual". 
1. Dr. Julianna LeMieux and I were at the Cato Institute for the Dr. Ed Calabrese talk on the linear no-threshold model (LNT) used to set regulatory limits. Members of our Board of Scientific Advisors, like Dr. Jerry Cutler and others, have long-considered LNT to be the Patient Zero of junk science used to create regulations. It basically says that particle 1 is as harmful as particle 1,000,000. Also mixed in the discussion is hormesis, a u-shaped curve in dose-response, which can also be controversial when misused by activists.
Do you think too much pizza will make you fat, or the chemicals in the box? If you think it's the box, you probably read AlterNet instead of us. And we had more outreach last week
Dr. Jamie Wells, our Director of Medicine, will join a distinguished panel of judges who will select the winner of the next Miss America's Outstanding Teen competition in Orlando, Florida. Areas of consideration among the competitors include scholastic achievement, creative accomplishment, healthy living and community involvement.
We went to Washington to meet with Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. He was intrigued by our publication, and asked that copies be sent to him so he could give it to the committee. That's part of our goal, In fact, we want it in the hands of every member of Congress.
Any donor may request our latest publication free of charge, and everyone at the event got a copy. If you prefer to avoid paper, it's available as a PDF inside this article. Along with national coverage, the news was carried by regional papers from Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and Salt Lake Tribune to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Buffalo News.
1. Friday was the premiere of "Food Evolution", a documentary about the many beneficial advances in agricultural science we have had, in New York City and Los Angeles. I had seen it before, two weeks ago, at the University of Guelph when they flew me in to give a talk. Guelph is an agriculture town, everyone knows a scientist or a farmer, they see the benefits of science and farming, and I wanted to see how that compared to New York City, where anti-science beliefs about food are the norm.   The reactions in the two towns were quite different, but not as you would expect.
1. "Democracy Dies In Darkness" - that is the tagline for the Washington Post these days. And yet they promote darkness about science. Last Tuesday they were hosting a panel on "how science and technology are changing our food systems", yet what did they leave out? Anyone who knows anything about science or technology and food. Instead, it was mostly organic salespeople and scaremongers.
ACSH President Hank Campbell gives a bootcamp on biotech to science communicators, the EPA would prefer not to have awkward questions asked, and more outreach this past week.
How to know you are winning the war on American anti-science groups? When both French and Russian activists attack you.